GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY and REFORM (back to top)

• Establish a House Sunset Committee that will review every commonwealth department and program biannually to insure that it is necessary and that it is effectively and efficiently carrying out its duties. The Committee will make recommendation on which programs should be eliminated or modified.



• Create and empower a Pennsylvania Accountability Commission to increase the effectiveness of the review process of state agencies and programs.



• Commission a complete audit of every major state department and agency as well as every major state program to ensure that programs and state monies are being utilized in the original manner in which they were created.



• Adopt a statute or Constitutional amendment prohibiting Pennsylvania state and local governments from growing faster than the incomes of our taxpaying citizens.



• Eliminate duplicative regulatory processes and consolidate government regulatory functions to reduce the cost of enforcement and compliance.



• Post on the internet all grant applications to all state departments and agencies, all grants made through these departments, as well as any audits performed by each department.



• Create a Board of Review for unsolicited bids. Suitable ideas will be reviewed for performance, quality, and feasibility with any sound ideas for saving the Commonwealth money being passed on to the appropriate departments or agencies.



• Explore moving the Pennsylvania state and local pensions to a market driven solution for new employees. Programs like 401(k)s should be looked at to see if a better return can be provided for retirees as well as achieving cost savings.



• Create a reward incentive program for any state employee who creates a plan/idea that produces substantial savings for the Commonwealth. By providing a percentage of the amount saved back to the employee we allow for creativity to flourish within out system.



• Create a temporary “default state budget.” If a budget agreement is not in place by the July 1 deadline, the previous year’s budget would automatically be enacted.



• Establish a permanent budget conference committee that would convene no later than June 15 if a state budget has not been enacted. Both chambers would appoint members to a budget conference committee and subcommittees as needed, to move the budget forward.



• Prohibited action on non-budget related bills after June 15 of each year until a state budget is enacted.



• Separate the Inspector General’s office for the Department of Public Welfare out of the Executive Office - consider moving it to the Attorney General or Auditor General, an independent elected official.



• Incorporate social services into daily school life. Remove hurdles placed on families and single parent households and reduce costs by making it easier for them to visit with social workers, aid workers, etc at educational facilities.



• Allow Medical Assistance recipients to use a menu of options for their health care spending, similar to the Health Savings Accents now growing in popularity in private insurance markets.



• Commission consolidation studies of local municipal governments and school districts where feasible.



• Reexamine the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. Years of deregulation have le d to a dismissed role for the PUC, yet they still have a large bureaucracy. Reducing the PUC bureaucracy can lead to more rate-payer savings.



• Study the possibility of consolidating school district health care programs.



• Find commonsense solutions to illegal immigration’s effects on the Pennsylvania economy and job creation.

TAXES (back to top)

• Require a super majority for any tax increase. Any increase in any state tax would require a 2/3 majority in each chamber.
  
  
• Implement a pilot program that creates a tax-free zone in Pennsylvania’s most economically depressed areas.
  
  
• Eliminate school property taxes for all seniors 65 and older and making less than $40,000 a year.
  
  
• Cap yearly increases in School budgets to reflect inflation. Put major school building projects up for a ballot referendum.
  
  
• Remove the cap on the net operating loss to help start-up companies and cyclical businesses.
  
  
• Uncap the R & D credit for Pennsylvania businesses.
  
  
• Move to a single sales factor for Pennsylvania businesses - only tax PA businesses on their in-state sales.
  
  
• Continue the phase out of the Capitol Stock and Franchise Tax to spur job creation.
  
  
• To ease the burden of growing communities on the local tax base, require a “building lot assessment” to local municipalities and school districts when a property is subdivided and sold to a developer. Assessment can be paid by the seller or buyer of the property.
  
  

CRIME (back to top)

• Limit the time convicted felons have to appeal their sentences.
  
  
• Increase funding for additional law enforcement resources to combat violent crime and drug activities.
  
  
• Increase the numbers of specialized prosecutors and gun-related law enforcement officers, and require training programs for them to develop better methods to combat gun crime.
  
  
• Help growing municipalities put more police on the streets.
  
  
• Provide local police departments, sheriff’s departments with more training dollars to help them improve their service to our communities.
  
  
• Zero tolerance for any and all sex crimes. Require lifetime parole for those convicted of violent felony sex offenses. Such monitoring should include electronic /GPS devices.
  
  
• Eliminate the statute of limitations for sex crimes committed against children.
  
  
• Reexamine the sexual offenses which require registration under Megan’s Law to see if an expansion of offenses is warranted.
  
  
• Enact laws to deny registered sex offenders access to popular internet networking sites mostly used by underage children and install tracking equipment on their computers to monitor their use. i.e. facepage, myspace, etc.
  
  
• Increase minimum sentences for violent and gun crimes.
  

Creating a world-class education system will need more than money – it will need reorganization. Pennsylvania’s current decentralized public education system, coupled with its fragmented system of private educational opportunities has not provided the results that taxpayers expect for the significant investment that they make.

• Reform the current school funding formula to reflect the changing demographics and actual needs of Pennsylvania’s schools.
  
  
• Commission a bipartisan legislative committee to study new funding formulas for our public schools. The committee will make recommendations to the General Assembly by the end of 2009.
  
  
• Enhance the value of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) by raising the curricular standards it measures and using the results to reward high performance.
  
  
• Organize a State Education Commission (SEC) comprised of industry, business and educational leaders to create a new, world-class educational curriculum comparable to those found in the leading education systems that focuses on technology, science, engineering and math.
  
  
• Explore state-level virtual schooling as an innovation to give ALL students access to such things as Advanced Placement courses; courses not available in their local schools; SAT preparation courses; tutoring and other learning opportunities.
  
  
• Review the current funding and programs available to assist school districts in meeting their safety and security needs and in providing alternative education for their most disruptive students.
  
  
• Create career academics and career training programs that allow students to become industry certified in a technical field, both as part of and after their high school education.
  
  
• Make public funding of universities and all postsecondary schools contingent on university performance and outcomes.
  
  
• Pay teachers and principals based on performance and merit.
  
  
• Explore piloting student-based funding programs.
  
  
• Create statewide competency tests based on strong standards for both new and veteran teachers at each grade level and subject area (the development of a STATE test for new teachers would be very costly and worse yet a student certified in Pa would never be able to take their accreditation to another state).
  
  
• The reason we (and others) use PRAXIS is its portability. Testing of veteran teachers may be OK...but again cost of a statewide test to be developed would be high.)
  Increase the probationary period for teachers.
  
  
• Continue to add options for students and parent choice in education.
  
  
• Require all schools that accept state funds, including community colleges and universities, to send parents annual notices delineating school content, performance, and spending.
  
  
• Create and fund a school district Inspector General under the office of the Attorney General, the newly created GAO or Auditor General to track specific incidents of fraud, waste and abuse that occur each year in Pennsylvania public schools.
  
  
• Provide incentives to create innovative public-private partnerships that will expand after-school programs.
  
  
• Pursue public-private partnerships to provide classroom construction, leasing, maintenance, and school services.
  
  
• Require school districts to remove ineffective teachers and administrators-including those that have tenure status.
  
  

HEALTHCARE (back to top)

• Reward healthcare providers and plans that demonstrate better outcomes at lower cost.
  
  
• Create a “one-stop” source of information on assistance for Pennsylvania’s uninsured.
  
  
• Require physicians to begin using technology like e-prescribing to reduce errors and improve efficiency.
  
  
• Improve patient care through technology by expanding electronic health records and regional health information networks.
  
  
• Make it easier for qualified, uninsured children to get coverage through the Pennsylvania Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
  
  
• Launch a marketplace of affordable health insurance.
  
  
• Create a Medicaid fraud bounty for counties and private citizens encourage counties to aggressively seek out fraud.
  
  
• Encourage healthcare providers to expand preventive services and walk-in care for uninsured Pennsylvanians.
  
  
• Help hospitals serve patients with immediate medical problems to avoid emergency departments while still receiving the necessary care.
  
  

TRANSPORTATION (back to top)

• Partner with private companies to build a model transportation system.
  
  
• Develop a long range plan for infrastructure improvement and expansion. Three percent of our bridges are structurally deficient. The average age of state-owned bridges is 50 years old and nearing the end of their useful lives. Over 5,900 bridges are structurally deficient and over 8,500 miles of state-owned roads are in poor condition. Thirty-two percent of our secondary roads are in poor condition. About 800 bridges have weight or lane restrictions, and 54 are closed, according to PennDOT.
  
  
• Explore opportunities to reduce the taxpayer contributions made to public transportation agencies.
  
  
• Explore the concept of Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) whereby a private entity bids to build a public road, they operate and manage the road for a finite amount of time (i.e. 30 or 99 years) and then return the roadway in perfect operating condition back to the State for State control.
  
  
• Create a system that allows more local money to stay in local areas to fix and update roads and bridges.
  
  

OTHER (back to top)

• Enact a “loser pays” or “prevailing party” attorneys’ fee statute and ensure that any case, claim or defense not supported by necessary facts or law results in the right to claim attorneys’ fees.
  
  
• To help cut down on frivolous lawsuits and lengthy, costly trials, explore a lawsuit settlement statute, that directs the plaintiff to pay all legal fees if they refuse a reasonable settlement and the final settlement in the case is not more than 25% of the offered settlement.
  
  
• Establish a business specialty court which will create a business friendly legal environment, stimulate economic growth and business relocation, while ensuring businesses are afforded a fair and speedy resolution to their complex litigation issues.
  
  
• Regionalize the Pennsylvania Business Center to allow for greater flexibility in attracting needed businesses and jobs throughout Pennsylvania. Each center should offer “one stop shopping” to help new and existing businesses understand local regulations and assist them in obtaining needed permits, tax forms, licenses, etc for local municipalities, school districts, and counties in addition to help with the necessary state forms and regulations.
  
  
• Align research investments with economic development strategies and encourage applied science research and development.